Northwest Board of Regents approves tuition raise

The Northwest Board of Regents approved a proposal to raise undergraduate tuition and change the graduate tuition model for 2019-20 at its regular meeting March 14 in the J.W. Jones Union Boardroom.

Undergraduate tuition was approved a 4.8 percent increase. This percentage is based on the Higher Education Student Funding Act allowable rates that account for an increase in the Consumer Price Index and declining state appropriations.

Tuition will increase by an estimated average net price of $394 for undergraduate in-state students and $592 for undergraduate out-of-state students based on enrollment in 30 credit hours for the academic year.

Vice President of Finance Stacy Carrick said during the meeting the University’s net price for tuition is in the lowest one-third of its peer group. Carrick said the University focuses on two key philosophies: protecting affordability and preserving the quality of learning.

“The tuition increase allows us to ensure that we provide a quality program and are taking care of our people that are teaching in the classroom and staff that are providing support to our students in their various offices,” Carrick said. “If we hadn’t done that, we would have been looking at different types of deductions and things that we would have had to do to balance the budget.”

Graduate tuition was approved to shift the tuition model from resident/non-resident to differentiated program pricing.

“Instead of pricing our product all the same across programs, today we differentiated by resident vs. non-resident, what you’re seeing in the graduate side of the world is differentiating by program,” Carrick said.

The tuition proposal presented to the Board of Regents passed with six votes in favor and two in opposition.

“We are at a level amount of state appropriations from a year ago; we’re at a roughly stable amount of enrollment,” Board of Regent member Jason Klindt said. “If we are having to raise tuition as much as we are this year given those factors, I worry about a year when things are more dire.”

Carrick said there will be no increase to any designated fees related to technology and textbooks or room and board.

The price for meal plans will increase an average of 2.5 percent. This figure is based on CPI along with the University's contract with third-party vendors.

Carrick said during the meeting that 97 percent of full-time freshmen receive some sort of financial assistance and that 34 percent of the University's budget is targeted to student scholarships.

“It’s looking at what’s in the best interest of our students, looking at the model of what makes sense to ensure we’re providing the right services and quality programs,” Carrick said.

The Northwest Board of Regents approved to raise undergraduate tuition and change the graduate tuition model for 2019-20 at its regular meeting March 14 in J.W. Jones Union Boardroom.

Undergraduate tuition was approved 1.9 percent Consumer Price Index increase as well as 3.3 percent for declining state appropriations for a total of 5.2 percent.

Graduate tuition was approved to shift the tuition model from resident/non-resident to differnated program pricing.

The tuition proposal was presented by Vice President of Finance Stacy Carrick. The proposal passed with six votes in favor and two in opposition.

“We are at a level amount of state appropriations from a year ago, we’re at a roughly stable amount of enrollment,” Board of Regent member Jason Klindt said. “If we are having to raise tuition as much as we are this year given those factors, I worry about a year when things are more dire.”

Carrick said there will be no increase to any designated fees related to technology and textbooks or room and board.

“It’s looking at what’s in the best interest of our students, looking at the model of what makes sense to ensure we’re providing the right services and quality programs,” Carrick said.

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